Geography

Portugal occupies the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and is
slightly smaller than Indiana. The country is crossed by three large
rivers that rise in Spain, flow into the Atlantic, and divide the country
into three geographic areas. The Minho River, part of the northern
boundary, cuts through a mountainous area that extends south to the
vicinity of the Douro River. South of the Douro, the mountains slope to
the plains around the Tejo River. The remaining division is the southern
one of Alentejo. The Azores stretch over 340 mi (547 km) in the Atlantic
and consist of nine islands with a total area of 902 sq mi (2,335 sq km).
Madeira, consisting of two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, and
two groups of uninhabited islands, lie in the Atlantic about 535 mi (861
km) southwest of Lisbon.

Government

Parliamentary democracy.

History

An early Celtic tribe, the Lusitanians, are believed to have been the
first inhabitants of Portugal. The Roman Empire conquered the region in
about 140
BC
Toward the end of the Roman
Empire, the Visigoths had invaded the entire Iberian Peninsula.

Portugal won its independence from Moorish Spain in 1143. King John I
(1385–1433) unified his country at the expense of the Castilians and
the Moors of Morocco. The expansion of Portugal was brilliantly
coordinated by John's son, Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1488, Bartolomeu
Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope, proving that Asia was accessible by
sea. In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached the west coast of India. By the middle
of the 16th century, the Portuguese empire extended to West and East
Africa, Brazil, Persia, Indochina, and the Malayan peninsula.

In 1581, Philip II of Spain invaded Portugal and held it for 60 years,
precipitating a catastrophic decline in Portuguese commerce. Courageous
and shrewd explorers, the Portuguese proved to be inefficient and corrupt
colonizers. By the time the Portuguese monarchy was restored in 1640,
Dutch, English, and French competitors had begun to seize the lion's share
of the world's colonies and commerce. Portugal retained Angola and
Mozambique in Africa, and Brazil (until 1822).